Faith No More powerful at Palladium opener

During Faith No More's late '80s/early '90s heyday, Mike Patton often engaged in bizarre antics onstage. For the first of two Hollywood Palladium shows on Tuesday night, however, the singer focused on delivering his uniquely twisted vocals while the band remained a tight and energetic force to be reckoned with.

Patton pogoed around and kept chit-chat to a minimum until the group's breezy take on the Commodores' “Easy” an hour into the 90-minute set. Urging participation, he said, “It's OK to sing along; TMZ isn't watching you.” Later, there was this unusual taunt: “Who wants to go to jail? Spit on me! I want to feel your happy.”

Longtime fans who packed the sold-out venue crowd-surfed with abandon and were obviously ecstatic to see the group again after an extended absence. These dates comprise FNM's first Los Angeles appearances since 1997 at the Palace (now called Avalon) and the Palladium two years before that. I managed to catch both gigs -- and recall how much the notorious soup-can acoustics inside the latter put a damper on the proceedings.

Last year's Second Coming tour in 2009 saw Faith No More tour Europe neweggcouponsnow.net and South America exclusively, until the quintet finally returned to Southern California this past April for the second day of Coachella. Watching them give a powerful performance on the festival's main stage, it was evident how they had influenced popular '90s alt-metal such acts as Tool, Deftones, Staind and System of a Down.

That fact was hammered home in the more intimate indoor confines of the Palladium. Despite only a handful of modern and mainstream rock radio hits here, plus a single gold and platinum album, Faith No More continued to find major success abroad before splitting up in '98. Among those areas were Australia and South America, where this world tour concludes Sunday at a Santiago soccer stadium.

Nowadays the band's influence is still being felt. A new remix of “Epic,” crafted by British electronic duo Utah Saints for their recent U.K. summer festival appearances, was just posted online and can be downloaded free here. Also, a new Faith No More-inspired musical with that same song title is reportedly in the works for a spring debut in Melbourne.

Opening as they did in Indio with a straight, soulful version of pantenecoupon.net Peaches & Herb's “Reunited,” Patton was once again clad in his usual red suit and sunglasses, using a cane for dramatic effect, while keyboardist Roddy Bottum served as duet partner. Then it was time to get the megaphone out: Bottum triggered a siren sound, the musicians went into full-on rock attack mode on the frenetic “From Out of Nowhere” and Patton did some screeching and growling.

Rarities from the 1987 pre-Patton album Introduce Yourself (“Spirit,” the stinging and thunderous “Chinese Arithmetic,” the latter prefaced by a snatch of Lady Gaga's “Poker Face”) surely delighted old-school fans. A stellar “Everything's Ruined,” during which Jon Hudson really proved his mettle with distorted guitar sounds ,and “Helpless,” replete with Patton's crazy whistling and yelping, made their tour debuts here. Danny DeVito even danced across the stage at one point.

Other standouts included the sinister “Caffeine,” with Patton exorcising demons amid strobe lights; a funky “Evidence”; the whisper-to-a-scream dynamics and Mike Bordin's tribal beats on “Midlife Crisis”; Patton's over-the-top dramatic vocals amid the Bee Gees' “I Started a Joke”; and the always intense “Epic,” its singer like a tiger let loose from his cage.

During prenatalvitaminsnow.net the encores, L.A. natives Bottom and Gould briefly reminisced about memorable shows they'd seen at the Palladium in the '80s (U2, the Clash, the English Beat) and the keyboardist got a solo spotlight during a bit of Vangelis' “Chariots of Fire.” Finally, Patton and the band ended in lounge mode with a crooning cover of Bacharach & David's “This Guy's in Love with You.”

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